Case Studies and Presentations

  • Understanding the HCI of Digital Musical Instruments (pdf)
    April 2010
    An inter-disciplinary experiment in collaboration with McGill University researchers - a study of digital drum interfaces, including physical and objective metrics, but also user expectations, reactions, perceptions and preferences.
  • Rich Internet Resources: Designing Complex Web-Based Information Archives (pdf)
    May 2009
    Yu Centrik engaged in the redesign of web-based digital archives for two major organizations
    which each target the specific information needs of large-scale, specialized user populations.
    Clear parallels between both projects resulted in novel methodological ideas and practical design
    patterns applicable to the research and design of specialized internet resources for subject matter
    experts.
  • Terminology: A Major Problem in Voice Response Systems (pdf)
    November 2009
    Yu Centrik has worked on several projects assessing and improving Interactive Voice Response
    (IVR) systems. While conducting an evaluation of four different automated touch-tone telephone
    systems for various departments of the Canadian government, we have extracted general recommendations.
  • Safe Zone In Web Browser (pdf)
    By Alice Malisia,    November 2009
    How can we ensure that primary content is visible when a page is first loaded? This case study amalgamates results from numerous international usability tests to define a safe zone which accommodates users’ web browsers. Custom applications, toolbars and browser configuration can all have an effect on the available real estate for web sites to get their message across.
  • Design Methodology Under Business Constraint: iTV (pdf)
    By Jay Vidyarthi and Pierre-Alexandre Lapointe, November 2009
    Are 
individual
 pieces 
of 
user 
experience
 methodology
 effective?
 We
 suggest
 an 
answer
 to
 this 
question 
in
 the 
context
 of
 a
 real
 case
 study
 involving
 the
 analysis 
and
 redesign
 of
 a
 remote‐controlled
 virtual 
keyboard.

Presentations

  • Exploiting Cognitive Bias: Creating UX for the Irrational Human Mind
    by Jay Vidyarthi, presented at the UXMasterClass 2010
    When confronted with a decision, people rarely make perfectly logical choices. However, specialists in human decision-making have shown that we are consistently irrational in the same ways due to specific cognitive biases. This presentation covers novel ideas on how such trends in our decision-making process are applicable beyond the world of marketing, straight into the heart of UX practice.
  • Offering a Service 3.0 (in French)
    by Chrystel Black, presented at Webcom 2010
    An overview of the evolution of design, how it evolved from Human-Computer Interface to a total user experience including every aspect, including services.
  • UX Masterclass 2010
    by the Yu Centrik team, presented at the UX Master Class 2010
    An overview of UX Masterclass.
  • Technology’s Potential to Expand Human Communication
    by Jay Vidyarthi, Chichat Event, 2009
  • Web 2.0 : Evolution or Revolution? (in French)
    by Marcio Leibovitch, Chitchat Event, May 2008